How Jesus Builds His Church - Zac Poonen

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These notes were generated by artificial intelligence. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, there may be errors or inaccuracies in the content. For the most accurate and reliable information, please refer to the original sermon video or transcript available at cfcindia.com. Visit cfcindia.com for more rich and original content to support your spiritual edification.

Key Points

Key Points

1. Distinction Between a Church and a Congregation
   • A true church is not a congregation, a club, or a denomination; it is the body of Christ, built by Jesus Himself on the foundation of divine revelation (Matthew 16:18).
   • Old Testament Israelites were a congregation, not a church, as they lacked the indwelling Holy Spirit. Many modern "mega churches" are similarly congregations, centered around a single leader rather than a unified body.
2. The True Meaning of Worship
   • Worship is not singing or praising but offering the best of one’s life to God, as seen in Abraham’s sacrifice (Genesis 22) and Job’s surrender (Job 1).
   • True worship involves giving up what is most precious, even in loss, and is a prerequisite for effective service to God (Matthew 4:10).
3. Jesus as the Sole Builder of the Church
   • Only Jesus can build His church; human efforts to "plant" churches without divine origination are doomed to fail (Matthew 15:13).
   • The church is built on the revelation of Christ as the Son of the living God, not on human figures like Peter (Matthew 16:15-18).
4. The Importance of Revelation
   • The church is built on the rock of divine revelation of Christ, not human knowledge or cleverness (Matthew 16:15-18, Galatians 1:15-16).
   • Personal revelation of Christ transforms lives and ensures steadfast faith, even if others fall away (Ephesians 1:16-17).
5. Characteristics of a True Church
   • A true church overcomes the powers of darkness (Matthew 16:18) and is marked by humility, godliness, and contentment—qualities the devil lacks.
   • Churches overtaken by sin, greed, or division are under Satan’s influence, not God’s (Luke 16:13, 1 Timothy 6:9-10).
6. The Role of the Cross in Building the Church
   • Building the church requires taking up the cross daily, denying self, and following Jesus (Matthew 16:24-26).
   • The cross and the church are interconnected; resisting the way of the cross is Satanic (Matthew 16:21-23).
7. Overcoming Satan’s Schemes
   • Satan tempts through money, pride, and discontentment, often disguised as innocent pursuits (Matthew 4:8-9, 1 Timothy 6:9-10).
   • Humility, godliness, and contentment are weapons against Satan, as he possesses none of these (Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 11:6).
8. Personal Responsibility in Building the Church
   • Every believer can build the church by dying to self in daily life, regardless of spiritual gifts (Matthew 16:24-27).
   • Faithfulness in daily choices, not just public ministry, determines eternal reward (Matthew 16:27).
9. The Call to Persistent Prayer
   • Believers must cry out to God day and night for their spiritual inheritance, like the persistent widow (Luke 18:3-7).
   • A laid-back attitude results in spiritual poverty; diligent seeking brings revelation and anointing (Jeremiah 29:13).
10. Valuing Spiritual Resources
    • Neglecting freely available spiritual resources (e.g., sermons, Bible teachings) reflects a lack of hunger for God, unlike the Queen of Sheba’s pursuit of wisdom (1 Kings 10).
    • Faithfulness with earthly resources, like money, is a prerequisite for receiving true spiritual riches (Luke 16:11).

Challenging Points

1. Redefining Worship
   • Challenge: The sermon challenges the common Christian practice of equating worship with singing or praise, asserting that true worship involves sacrificial surrender. This requires a paradigm shift, as many believers are accustomed to viewing worship as a musical or emotional experience rather than a costly act of devotion.
2. Rejecting Human Glory and Pride
   • Challenge: Believers are urged to reject seeking honor, appreciation, or titles from others, as these open the door to Satan’s influence (John 6, 2 Corinthians 2:11). This is difficult in a culture that values recognition and self-promotion, even within churches.
3. Pursuing Humility, Godliness, and Contentment
   • Challenge: Pursuing humility, godliness, and contentment with passion is countercultural, as these qualities are undervalued compared to wealth, talent, or charisma. Believers must actively fight pride, sin, and discontentment, which requires constant self-examination and discipline.
4. Avoiding the Pursuit of Wealth
   • Challenge: The sermon warns against the pursuit of riches as a demonic trap (1 Timothy 6:9-10), challenging believers to be content and faithful with money. This is particularly difficult in a materialistic society where financial success is often seen as a sign of blessing.
5. Taking Up the Cross Daily
   • Challenge: Denying self and taking up the cross in daily interactions (e.g., at home or work) is a rigorous demand. It involves sacrificing personal dignity and rights in conflicts, which is contrary to human nature and societal norms (Matthew 16:24-26).
6. Persistent Prayer for Spiritual Growth
   • Challenge: The call to cry out to God day and night for an overcoming life and anointing (Luke 18:3-7) challenges believers to move beyond casual or occasional prayer. This persistent pursuit requires discipline and faith, especially when results are not immediate.
7. Recognizing Spiritual Poverty
   • Challenge: The sermon confronts believers with their spiritual poverty due to preserving self-life and neglecting revelation. Acknowledging personal shallowness and lack of progress, even after years in a church, requires humility and a willingness to change (Matthew 16:26).
8. Valuing Revelation Over Knowledge
   • Challenge: The emphasis on seeking divine revelation rather than relying on intellectual understanding or external experiences (Galatians 1:15-16, Ephesians 1:16-17) challenges believers to prioritize an inward, transformative encounter with Christ, which cannot be taught or acquired through human effort alone.
9. Overcoming Satan’s Subtle Temptations
   • Challenge: Recognizing Satan’s schemes through seemingly innocent desires like money or recognition (Matthew 4:8-9) is difficult, as these temptations are subtle and socially acceptable. Believers must develop discernment to identify and resist these influences.
10. Building the Church Through Daily Life
    • Challenge: The idea that building the church happens through daily choices to die to self, not just through visible ministry roles, challenges believers to see mundane moments as opportunities for spiritual impact. This requires a shift from valuing public roles to prioritizing private faithfulness.

Complete Notes

Understanding the True Church and How to Build It

Section 1: Introduction to Building the Church

The Call to Participation

Today, I want to share concerning how every one of us can have a part in building this church. So I want you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 16. If you understand this, you'll be able to understand how each one of us can have a part in building the church.

Misconceptions About Church Roles

In most churches, it's just the preachers and the song leaders who almost do all the work, and it looks as if they are the only ones who are building the church. But that's where you need to understand the difference between a congregation and a church.

Section 2: Distinguishing a Church from a Congregation

The Old Testament Congregation

The Old Testament Israelites were a congregation. If you called it a church, then that would be the biggest mega church in the world with two million people and Moses as their pastor. But it was not a church; it was a congregation. They were not connected together as a body. The Holy Spirit did not dwell in all of them, so they could not be a body.

Modern Mega Congregations

Most so-called mega churches today in the world are mega congregations. The Old Testament Israelites were all drawn to one leader, Moses, and Aaron, his assistant. And so today, in many so-called mega churches, it's one big man up there and an assistant pastor, and that's what they call a church. But it's not a church according to the New Testament.

Small Groups and Clubs

A lot of people are drawn to small groups; they like to meet in house churches because in house churches, they care for one another, they help one another. That also is not necessarily a church; it could be a club. In a club, people care for one another and help one another. Particularly, people who are very insecure and lonely don't like to be in a big church. They like to go to a small place where people make much of them because maybe there are only 10 or 15 people there, and one person is very important. So people who want a sense of importance go to a small group because then everybody will make much of them, help them when they're in trouble, and so many things. That's a club; that's also not a church.

Defining a True Church

A church is something very different. So in Matthew 16 is the very first place in the Bible where we read the word "church."

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Section 3: The Biblical Concept of Worship

The First Mention of Worship

This is where Jesus spoke about church for the very first time. Whenever a word occurs for the first time in Scripture, it's good to see where it occurs because we learn something there. I'll give you a couple of examples. The first time the word "worship" occurs in the Bible is in Genesis 22, when Abraham goes up to offer his son Isaac, giving up what is most precious to him to the Lord. That is worship.

Misunderstanding Worship

What we do singing and praising here is not worship; this is praise and thanksgiving. It’s got nothing to do with worship. I know the entire Christian world calls it praise and worship; that's because they don't have a clue what worship is because they don't study the Bible. In the first place where worship comes, it's where a man offered the very best of his life to God. If you do that, even if you can't sing, you're worshiping God.

Examples of True Worship

Another place where it occurs, which is in the first book of the Bible, the Book of Job, it says he fell down and worshiped God when he had lost all his children and his business, and he said, "Fine, Lord, you can take it away." He did the same thing Abraham did. They both lived around the same time, and he also gave up everything he had to God and said, "Fine, I don't have any complaint, Lord; you're taken away," and he worshiped God. When you can do that, when God takes away something which is precious to you, and you bow down and say, "Lord, no complaints, you're welcome to do it; you can do it again," that's a worshiper.

Rarity of True Worshipers

I want to tell you something: less than one percent of born-again believers know how to worship. I've met very few worshipers in my life. I've met a lot of good singers, but worshipers are in a completely different category. It's only those who worship who can serve God. Jesus said that very clearly in Matthew 4:10.

Bible Verse:

Matthew 4:10
Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

The Order of Worship and Service

Thou shalt worship and then thou shalt serve. That doesn't mean you first sing and then serve; no, it means worship. So I hope we get these wrong ideas that we've acquired in our previous Christian connections with dead churches that have taught us things which are not at all in the Bible. Just like you got rid of your idea of infant baptism and got baptized properly, in the same way, you've got to get rid of your ideas of what worship is and just learn to worship properly. Otherwise, you'll miss out on a very important part of the Christian life.

Impact of True Worship

I really believe with all my heart the reason why many, many Christians’ service is not effective for God is because they don't follow this order: Thou shalt worship and then thou shalt serve.

Section 4: The True Church Defined

The First Mention of "Church"

So that's the advantage of seeing in the first place the word comes. So here is the first place the word "church" comes. So it's very interesting to see where it comes. There are a number of things I want to speak to you today from verse 18 to 27 to try and understand this concept of the True Church of Jesus Christ.

Not a Building or Denomination

It's not a building; it's not a denomination. We saw it's not a congregation; it's not a club. It's not a place where we join because there are helpful people around who'll help me when I'm in trouble. That's a club. It's not a place where we just come to listen to some great preacher because, nowadays, I'll tell you, you don't have to come to church to listen to a great preacher. Just go to the internet, and you get a variety of great preachers, and you can sit at home and listen to them every day. The advantage on the internet is you can turn it off when you get bored, which you can't—you can't walk out of a church like that. So there's a big advantage if your aim in life is just to listen to good preaching; you don't have to go to a Sunday service nowadays. Just get an internet connection and go to YouTube. There are even my messages; there are about a thousand of them on YouTube.

The Church as the Body of Christ

That's not—that's just a congregation that people are just admiring. A church is something completely different. The church is called a body of Jesus Christ, and Jesus knew that when he said for the first time, "I will build my church."

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Jesus as the Builder

The first thing we learn from here is that the last part of verse 18: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades or the bars of spiritual darkness, the powers of Hell, will not be able to overpower it." So there are a couple of things we learned right there about the true church: one, it's only Jesus Christ who can build it. Any person who gets the idea saying that "I planted a church here, and I planted a church there, and I built a church there"—a lot of people who speak like that, they're pretty arrogant. It's only Jesus who can build his church.

God as the Originator

If somebody has gone and planted a church somewhere, I can tell you that church will collapse because if you turn to the previous chapter of chapter 15, Jesus had already said in verse 13:

Bible Verse:

Matthew 15:13
He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.”

Every church which Jesus did not plant will be pulled out. It's the same principle: God is the only legitimate originator of anything that's going to be eternal. A lot of things that man can originate and start and plant and build, it only lasts as long as this world is there, but the only legitimate originator of what is eternal is God.

The Transience of the World

Turn with me to 1 John chapter 2. It's important to understand this, very, very important because we live in a day when man is arrogant, and the pride of man is becoming greater and greater and greater. It says here in 1 John in chapter two and verse 17:

Bible Verse:

1 John 2:17
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

The world is passing away in all its lusts. Lust means strong desires; that's the meaning of lust. Unfortunately, we always associate lust with sexual lust, but that's not the way the word lust is used in Scripture because it says in Galatians chapter five, I think it's verse 17, the Holy Spirit lusts against the flesh, so that's not a dirty desire; it just means strong desire.

Bible Verse:

Galatians 5:17
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

The Spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh lusts against the Spirit; it means a strong desire. So the world and all its strong desires, good or bad, it's going to pass away, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Eternal Value of God’s Will

In other words, when we get to the Judgment Seat of Christ and move into eternity, we will discover that the only things that remain for eternity are those which were done in the will of God. There's a very common saying: "Only one life, it will soon be passed; only what's done for Christ will last." Many people quote it, and it sounds very good: "Only one life, it will soon be passed; only what's done for Christ will last." But strictly speaking, it's not true because there are a lot of people who are doing things for Christ today which will not last. So the way I say it is: "Only one life, it will soon be passed; only what Christ does through us will last." Not what we do for Christ; a lot of things we do for Christ won't last because it's done with wrong motives, it's done without God originating it, to just an idea that came from our fertile brain; it won't last. But what's done, what Christ does through us, will last. In other words, where we have sought the will of God, and the Lord did something through us, He prompted us, and we acted on that prompting, that is how God does His work.

The Origin of a True Church

Even this church, many of you do not know how this church began, but those of us who were here right in the beginning—and it's only about a couple of us right now who know it—had nothing to do with any man. It had to do with God sovereignly bringing, suddenly getting us thrown out somewhere else, and we didn't know where to go, and we started meeting together, and lo and behold, a few years later, it was a church. And lo and behold, a few years later, as many other churches, it had nothing to do with it. I'm so thankful that man had nothing to do with it. It's not that we planned and said, "Okay, we've got to start a church, and we must have a good church, and let's start here on certain such a date." Nonsense. We had no opening date, no cutting of a ribbon, nothing. It was God who just originated it, and that's the way every true church is planted. So that takes away the glory of man. No man can take glory for anything that's done; only the will of God will remain.

Jesus Builds His Church

So that's the first thing we need to learn when we come to Matthew chapter 16: "I will build my church." I want to be in a church where Jesus is building, not which man is building. Man is building a lot of so-called churches which are not the one Jesus is building. I want to be in a church that Jesus is building, and He says, "I will build my church," and where does He build it? It says in verse 18, "on this rock I will build my church."

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Rock of Revelation

That's another thing many people are confused by. You know that the Roman Catholic Church takes that verse and says, "Well, Jesus said to Peter, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church," and that's one of the results of reading Scripture carelessly. You must never take a verse and try to get a doctrine out of it; see the context. It begins with verse 15:

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:15-18
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." That's not because he was clever, because there were cleverer people than him in the synagogue who thought Jesus was the prince of devils. Here was a guy who was not even educated who understood the truth. How is that? And so Jesus tells him, "You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you." That means you did not discover this by your human cleverness. Now that's not unimportant; it's very, very important to understand what I'm just saying: you did not understand this by your human cleverness or ability. That's the meaning of "flesh and blood did not reveal it to you," but "my Father in heaven revealed it to you, gave you revelation." My Father gave you revelation on whom I am, and on this rock I will build my church.

Peter as a Small Stone

You got it: the rock of the revealed Christ. That's the rock. If you go to the original languages in which it is written in Greek, what Jesus is saying: "Peter, you're a small stone." That's what Peter means. But upon this massive rock, which you just confessed, the revealed Christ, the Son of the living God, I'll build my church. So actually, Jesus was saying the opposite of what the Roman Catholic Church says: "You're a small stone, Peter; you've got nothing can be built on you, but on this massive rock which you just confessed, the Christ, the Son of the living God, revealed to you by the Father, on this rock I'll build my church." And Peter recognized that because you go to Peter's epistle; he says we are living stones built up in the house of God, and he claims himself also to be just a stone; he's not the rock.

The Importance of Revelation

So, revelation—that is the important word that comes through here: a revealed Christ. Now there's a lot of difference between the Christ of history—you can read the Gospels and you know the Christ of history; He did miracles, He died on the cross—but there's a lot of difference between seeing Jesus in your heart revealed. Look what Paul said in Galatians chapter 1. We know that when the Apostle Paul, he was not the Apostle then, he was Saul of Tarsus, going out to persecute Christians on the road to Damascus, and he suddenly had a vision of seeing Jesus up in the heavens, and he said, "Who are you?" and Jesus said, "I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting." But it was not just that he saw Jesus externally, but that would not have solved the problem because many people saw Jesus externally on earth who were not converted. But in Galatians 1, it says here in verse 15 and 16:

Bible Verse:

Galatians 1:15-16
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

God’s Plan from the Beginning

But when He who had set me apart from my mother's womb—that means God, as soon as Paul was born, had set him apart: this man is going to be my apostle. I know he's going to go 30 years in the wrong direction, do a lot of wrong things, even persecute my people, but I'll turn him around. So that's a great encouragement for us to know, even if we wandered from the day we were born to the day we were converted—maybe 15, in my case nearly 20 years, wandered in the world and all that—yet to know that God set me apart from my mother's womb to be His servant. I don't know how what age you were converted, and you probably have a history of a lot of worldliness before that.

True Conversion and Revelation

I've had people come to CFC and say, "Brother Zach, I thought I was born again before I came here, but I feel after listening to the gospel that is preached in this church, I feel I've really been born again only after coming here." And I can understand that, and they say, "Because, first of all, I never knew what sin was till I came here, the seriousness of sin, and how could I turn from sin if I don't know what it is, and until I turned from sin, that is, repent, I can't really receive Christ as my Savior and Lord. So it's really, I was really being converted only after I came here." In my own case, I would say, though I was converted when I was 20, I mean, I really understood the New Covenant only after we started CFC, well, that's the truth, about 41 years ago, 40 years ago, a little over 40.

Revelation vs. External Knowledge

So there is a difference between seeing something externally and seeing something inwardly. Now here he says, "God set me apart from his mother's womb and called me through His grace, and He was pleased, Galatians 1:16, to reveal His Son inside me." Now that's not seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus; no, this is the same revelation that Peter got. You know what Jesus said: "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood does not reveal this." It is a very important New Testament word: revelation, revealed. Not understood. In the Old Testament, it was understanding; that's why you had scribes in the Old Testament who went to the Bible schools in those days and studied and studied all the laws of Moses, and they could quote this and that, and people came to them like you go to a doctor for a prescription or a consultation. They would go to the scribes and say, "This is what's happening in my home; what should I do?" And they tell you, "Well, this verse says this, that verse says that." They were scholars; it was understanding and knowledge. But in the New Testament, it is revelation, a word that's almost never found in the Old Testament: revelation. The church is built on revelation.

The Necessity of Personal Revelation

If you don't have revelation on Christ, who He is, you can, I mean, you can get into the committed members list, but you're not really part of the body of Christ. I'll tell you that; I might as well tell you the truth. You need to seek God for the Holy Spirit to give you revelation on who Jesus is. I can't give it to you; I can give you knowledge, but when you see the revealed Christ, your life will change. My life changed when I saw the revealed Christ. So it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. It’s only God who revealed the Son in me. What did Jesus say? The same thing Jesus said to Peter, we saw in Matthew 16: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you."

Seeking Revelation

So I want to ask you, my dear brothers and sisters, you hear a lot of truths from me. I know most of you have a tremendous respect for me and believe that I'm not trying to deceive you. I speak the truth to you, and you've got a good mind to be able to understand what I explained to you in very simple words. But with all of that, you may not have revelation, and that could be the reason why your life is so up and down and up and down and up and down and so shallow that you don't seem to make much progress in your Christian life because it is not built on a rock, shaky. The rock is revelation, the revealed Christ. On this rock, I will build my church. That's why I earnestly urge you to seek for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. See Ephesians chapter one.

Bible Verse:

Ephesians 1:16-17
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.

The Example of the Ephesian Church

Ephesus was the finest church in the early days. It became pretty corrupt by the time you read Revelation chapter 2, but when Paul was there, Paul stayed there for three years. He never stayed longer in any church other than that Ephesian. Why do I say Ephesians was the best church? Because all the other letters of Paul, he corrects people for various things, but in Ephesians, he doesn't have any correction to give. It's an amazing church, no correction. All the other letters, you see Paul is correcting something or the other, and to the Ephesian church, which is the finest church, where Paul had preached about 2000 sermons in three years, as we read in Acts 20, you know what he tells them? He says in Ephesians 1:16, first of all, he says, "I've heard of your faith in Jesus," verse 15, "great, I've heard of your love for all the saints." Think of a church that has got faith in Jesus and love for all the saints, and he says, "I always give thanks for you, and I pray for you."

Paul’s Prayer for Revelation

Now, what is my prayer? My prayer is not that you guys will get health and wealth. Paul is not an Old Covenant preacher like today's preachers; no, he's not praying that they'll get health and wealth. He's praying something far more important. He says, "I'm praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, should give you something more important than health and wealth: the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of Christ." Have you ever thought of somebody praying like that for you? Do you know this is a much better prayer to pray for people than to pray for their healing and to pray that they'll get a good job and a good house and a lot of money? All that will come if you seek God's kingdom first. Paul never prays for such things. You see all the prayers of the Apostle in the different letters; he never prays for anything material, anything physical. It’s so different from a lot of prayers that people pray today that shows the shallowness of their life.

The Shallowness of Earthly Focus

Most prayers of Christians are for earthly things, and that's because they themselves are so shallow. You see, a pig is only interested in muck; he's not interested in anything else. A cat is interested in milk and fish, things like that. There are certain things they're interested in, and when a man is only interested in earthly things, there's something wrong with him. He's a child of Adam, not really a child of God, for the child of God should be interested in heavenly things. And so Paul says, "I'm praying that you'll get a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Christ to know Him," and he says, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened." So because, you know, that's what happened to him, and he knew that's what changed his life, and that's what changed Peter's life.

The Danger of Shallow Conversion

When I see so many Christians who say they have accepted Christ, even in our CFC, and I see what their interests are, they spend such a lot of time watching movies at home when they don't even know the Bible yet. No, I'm not against a clean, absolutely clean movie, but they're very rare. But when a person can spend a lot of time watching even that and not have time for the Scripture, I see there's something wrong with this guy's conversion. He hasn't got revelation; he doesn't, he hasn't seen what is most valuable things in life. When I see the way a lot of Christians, even in CFC, spend their money—I mean, you get a little impression; I don't know exactly how they spend it—but wasting their time going to restaurants here and there all the time when they could very well eat at home because they got a lot of money to throw around. No wonder they don't get revelation because Jesus said:

Bible Verse:

Luke 16:11
If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

Faithfulness with Money

That section, Luke 16:10-13, is very important. You are not faithful with the money I give you. I'm not talking about righteous—righteous means I don't cheat, I don't steal, I haven't got anybody's money, I've returned everybody, I've prepaid my debts. Faithful means I'm very careful with the money God has given me, my salary. I'm absolutely convinced, as I've seen Christians around the world, that only those who are 100% faithful with money get revelation. All the others who carelessly waste their money and throw it around, you listen to them, there's no revelation. They repeat what they've heard from others; it's not revelation. It's good; it's second best. But Paul prays that you guys will have the spirit of revelation, the thing that changed my life. And I'll tell you, it's only a revelation that can change our life; it was gripped with the truth and make us rejoice always and walk in triumph 24 hours a day. It is this rock of revelation on which the church is built. I'm talking about the true church.

Building on the Revealed Christ

So, so Peter, you're a small rock, but on this rock of the revealed Christ, which you just confessed, I will build my church. So this is why it's so important, that prayer of Paul’s: "I pray that you'll have the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Him." I pray, say that to all of you: I pray that you'll have the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, where you know Christ in an inward way in such a way that even if everybody in the church fell away, you will not fall away. That's what revelation brings.

Personal Conviction Through Revelation

I remember in the early days when God began to show me His way back in 1975 and ’76, and God began to show me the truths of the New Covenant, of a life of overcoming, and it came home to my heart, and I was gripped by it, and it was so real. And as I began to experience it, I said, "Lord, this is amazing," and even if everybody—only a few of us meeting that time—even if everybody leaves me, it doesn't make a difference to me. I've seen the truth finally, and I said, "Even if all of India opposes me, I'm going to preach it because it's changed my life." It's a revelation. That's what made these apostles in those early days bold; it didn't matter, the whole world opposed them.

A Faith Rooted in Revelation

I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, do you have a faith like that? Do you have a faith where, if everybody else around you says, "No, this Christ is all rubbish, and this is all nonsense about New Covenant and all," you say, "No, you can say what you like; I've been gripped by the truth." I don't know whether that's true of all of you. I don't know whether you're holding a truth because there are so many others around you holding it. It's like these crowded buses in India; you don't have to move if they're crowded; the people behind you will just push you forward; you just stand still. I feel a lot of people are moving forward like that; it's not on their own steam, it's not through personal devotion to Christ.

The Impact of Revelation

So it's very, very important, this matter of having revelation of Christ within, because the true church is only built there. I mean, I remember also the Lord asking me this question: "If everybody opposes what you say, will you still hold true to it?" I said, "Sure, I've seen the truth in my heart; it doesn't make a difference if everybody in the world says it's all wrong." See, when you’re gripped with the truth like that, it radically changes your life. Money is no longer important to you; the honor and position of men and all that is just a lot of rubbish. You don't even care whether people appreciate what you say; you don't want their appreciation, you don't want their gratitude, you don't want anything because you're gripped by God. You know God; you live before His face. So, my dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you: seek for the revelation of the knowledge of Jesus Christ in your heart.

Growing in Knowledge

Peter says, "I pray that you will grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ." Don't take those words just read it; what does it mean to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ? It's by revelation.

Section 5: Characteristics of the True Church

Overcoming the Powers of Darkness

Okay, I want to move on. Matthew chapter 16. We read here that further in Matthew 16:18, the Lord said, "I will build my church, and the forces of Hell will not be able to overpower it." So that is the mark of the true church, very clear: the powers of darkness, the forces of Hell, will not be able to overcome it. The church will always overcome the forces of darkness. The church goes against the forces of darkness and overcomes it. The forces of darkness may attack the church, and the church cannot be overcome.

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Signs of a Defeated Church

So when you see a church that's overcome by the forces of darkness, where the pastor falls into adultery and all that, or some other pastor runs after money, and the leaders are always interested in getting your money to become richer and richer themselves, you can be pretty sure that the devil's overcome that church. Do you know why? I'll show you two verses. Luke chapter 16. Jesus said:

Bible Verse:

Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Two Masters: God and Money

So there are only two masters. Why didn't He say God and Satan? Because Satan comes as an angel of light. If Satan came with a fierce, ugly face and horns and hooves and a forked tail, you would run away from him. But if you see an angel, wow. You know, all these people who sometimes testify in meetings that "I saw an angel when I prayed," and somebody else says, "I saw two angels," they're demons, and these people are testifying about the demons they saw that they saw angels.

Bible Verse:

2 Corinthians 11:14
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Satan’s Deception

So we’ve got to be careful that when Satan—he won't come as Satan. Shall I tell you how he comes? He comes as an angel. He also comes as money. That's why Jesus said you can't serve God and money, because behind that pursuit of money is the devil. And so when a person is going after money, he doesn't realize that he's actually going after the devil; he doesn't even realize that. That's why the Bible says the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. In 1 Timothy, in chapter six, you see that verse:

Bible Verse:

1 Timothy 6:9-10
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

The Dangers of Pursuing Wealth

Those who want to get rich—I'm not saying those who work hard and make a lot of money; I'm not talking about those people. There are many God-fearing Christians who do business, work hard, and make a lot of money; they become rich, but they're just working to earn their living. But those whose main aim in life is to get rich, and if you fall into that category, please listen to what God's Word says: those who have a great longing to get rich in this world fall into temptation. It'll happen; you think you're smarter than the devil? You're not. I prophesy you will fall into temptation because the Bible says so. You will fall into a snare; that's the second thing. You'll fall into many foolish desires; you'll fall into many harmful desires. I'm just reading Scripture: it'll plunge you into ruin; it'll plunge you into destruction. Look at a lot of things that are written to a man who is pursuing after money: you fall into temptation, you'll fall into a snare, you'll fall into foolish desires, you fall into harmful desires, it'll plunge you into ruin, and plunge into destruction. And verse 10: it is a root of all sorts of evil, he says; there are 101 other things, he says, which I don't have time to mention, all sorts of evil. They'll wander away from the faith, verse 10. These are the results.

Satan’s Goal

So who's interested in your experiencing all these calamities? Certainly not God. God's not interested in your falling into temptation and snare and foolish, harmful desires and plunging into ruin and destruction. Who in the world is interested in ruining you like that? That's the devil. So what does he do? He won't come as a devil; you'll run away. He may come as an angel if you're a Pentecostal type; he may come to you as an angel. But if you're not that type, he'll come to you as money, the pursuit of money, and get you. He said it looks so innocent, not just like an angel looks so nice, and money looks so nice to earn money to support yourself, to get as much as you need, to work hard to get that. Even Jesus did it. Jesus had four brothers and two sisters and a widowed mother at home, and He worked hard in the carpenter shop to support them. And if you're working hard and you're not earning enough, and you're working somewhere else looking for a better job, that's perfectly okay, to find a house to live in or to build a house for your family to live in and all that is okay, or to save money for that is okay. The Lord's not talking here about saving money; it's a very good habit. The Bible says go and learn from the ant who saves up for the future. So it's good to have a savings account.

The Pursuit of Riches

But He's talking about those who are pursuing after getting rich; that is their aim in life. They have more than enough, but they're not happy; they want more and more and more and more. They're not rich towards God; they're rich towards themselves. That's the devil's aim, and he's led so many Christians that way. He's led so many pastors that way, and so you find many churches where the emphasis is on money, money, money, money, money. I know that because I get numerous emails from around the world that tell me about what they hear from their pastors in their churches. And you know, there are so many people who write to us and say, "When are you going to start a CFC church here?" I got an email a couple of weeks ago from Greenland; you know where Greenland is? It’s where the Eskimos live. Yeah, the internet reaches to the uttermost parts of the earth; it's amazing. There are hungry people who are longing for the true church of God.

Valuing Spiritual Resources

Jesus once said to the Jews who did not appreciate His presence there; He said, "The queen of Sheba, you know what, how many hundreds of miles she traveled to come and listen to Solomon, and you're—someone greater than Solomon is here, just across the road, and you fellas don't appreciate it." Now I feel a lot of people who are in CFC, in our CFC Bangalore, do not appreciate what you have here. I'll give you one example. I want to ask you, how many of you get the weekly Word for the Week from CFC and listen to and read it every week? I don't want you to raise your hands because it'll embarrass a lot of other people, or it'll make some people tell lies here by raising their hands who get it every week and read it every week. If you don't, it's free. If you don't have an internet connection, okay, understood. But if you get it and it just lies there in your inbox and you don't even read it, how much value do you have? The Queen of Sheba travels so many miles to get it; here it comes into your inbox, and you don't even have time to read it.

Neglecting Spiritual Opportunities

Next question: how many of you have read through—not listen, rather listened to—70 hours through the Bible? It was published more than 14 years ago on the internet, audio, and on CDs. Have you heard it even once in 14 years? 70 hours—that comes to only five hours a week, five hours in a year. Have you heard it? Again, I won't ask you to raise your hands. You're too smart, right? You already know everything in the Bible, right? You don't need to listen to all this. No wonder your life is so shallow, even though you think you're so smart and everybody appreciates you. Maybe you have a name in CFC; God calls that rubbish. You think it's very important that people appreciate you in CFC; God calls it rubbish. I hope you see that. Do you have time to listen to it? I have personally met people who are listening to it every single day on their smartphone and who have heard it three times—not CFC people, other people—kings of Sheba and all, a lot of people like that who are listening to it from here and there around the world, and some queens also, I think. I get to hear only the kings, but anyway, my point is we take for granted so many things that we have, but when it comes to the pursuit of money, boy, if there's some get-rich scheme that comes up somewhere, boy, how we will look up that one.

Satan’s Temptations

Turn to another passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 4. How did the devil come to Jesus? It says here, the last temptation he had tried to tempt Jesus to act on His own: do a miracle for Himself. That's the first temptation: "Do a miracle for yourself; turn stones into bread, and you're hungry; do something for yourself; use the power God has given you to get something for yourself." And Jesus said, "No." He did use that power to feed five thousand once, multiply the bread, but He'd never do it for Himself.

Bible Verse:

Matthew 4:8-9
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Using God’s Gifts Rightly

This is the word the Lord spoke to me when I left the Navy: "The anointing I have given you, you must never use it to get anything for yourself." I said, "Yes, Lord, I will never use the power you give me to get something for myself, usually money. I won't do it, never, never, never." Hardly, we hardly find many preachers like that, but that is the temptation that came to Jesus: "God has given you power; now use it to satisfy your need." And Jesus said, "No, I will use it to satisfy the need of others." That is the first temptation, in case you never understood it till now. Do you use the power God has given you to satisfy your need? For example, do you know the number of singers in the world, Christian musicians? They use the ability God has given them to get honor for themselves. What is the difference between that and turning the stones into bread to satisfy your need? Absolutely no difference. Where Jesus overcame, they’ve fallen. They’ve used their ability, a God-given ability to sing or play an instrument, to get honor for themselves and make a lot of money for them. So some of them are millionaires writing songs.

Avoiding Selfish Gain

Lord made it very clear to me: "When you write a book, don't get any money for it. When you get a, do anything, don't seek for money for it. Don't try to get rich off an anointing I gave you; don't even get honor; don't seek for it." Then the second temptation that the devil tempted Jesus was with trying, instead of faith, presumption. Presumption means try and claim a promise of God and do something stupid, like jump off the top of the temple and say, "Well, I claim this promise." There are people who do that also. When God has provided stairs to go down, don't jump off the roof. That's the meaning in that story. The application of it is: when you're sick, don't say, "I'll trust God to heal me," if God has provided medicines; that's like the staircase, use it to come down. Don't jump off the roof and say, "I'll trust God"; you'll die. There are a lot of people who said, "I won't take medicine, then I'll trust God," and they have died. Presumption. You need to distinguish between presumption and faith. There are people who don't study properly; they say, "I'll trust God." Well, that's why they end up without jobs and they struggle all their life because they're super spiritual and say, "I won't study properly; God will take care of me." There's no such promise; don't be presumptuous.

The Temptation of Wealth

And the third one, this is what I was coming to: okay, the devil says, "I couldn't succeed with this, I couldn't succeed with that, I'll finally succeed with, let me see if I can succeed with money." Do you know that Jesus was tempted with money? Matthew 4:8: the devil took Him and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. The glory of the kingdoms of this world is their wealth. What else is there in all the kingdoms? Why do they say America is a superpower? Because it's got so much money. Why are the countries in Africa considered low down? Because they don't have money. It's money which is the glory of the world, and Jesus, the devil showed it to Him, saying, "I'll give you all this if you'll just bow down to me." And you think if the devil tempted Jesus with it, he's not going to tempt you? There are only two masters in the world: God and money. And the devil comes in the form of offering you money. And remember this, that very often, a lot of people who get it, they get it in unrighteous ways. Any money that you have got in your life through doing something unrighteous, through cheating, through telling a lie—let me tell you how you got it: you bowed your knee to Satan at that time and got it.

Examples of Falling to Temptation

Judas Iscariot bowed his knee to Satan and got 30 pieces of silver. He gave it back afterwards to the priest, but he did not repent. If he had repented, he'd have gone to the cross and said, "Lord, forgive me." He went and hung himself. You can give back money that you have taken wrongfully and yet not have repented. I've seen people who've done that because repentance requires humility. Giving it back doesn't solve the problem. Judas Iscariot gave back the money he took wrongfully. I want to ask you if you have repented, not just given the money back.

The Story of Gehazi

So you see there how the devil tries to destroy. Judas Iscariot with money; he destroyed Gehazi in the Old Testament with money. Think of this: Elijah was the great prophet; when he went up to heaven, his anointing came upon Elisha, and Elisha got double the anointing of Elijah. And if you look in the Old Testament and look at the miracles that Elijah did and the miracles that Elisha did, Elijah raised one man from the dead; Elisha raised two people from the dead, one after he was dead through his bones. And every miracle that Elijah did, Elisha did double; he got a double portion of the anointing. So can you imagine what Gehazi would have been? Gehazi would have been the most respected name in the Old Testament, a man who had four times the anointing of Elijah. Look what he missed. He missed because he went after some rich general to get his money. How the devil has destroyed people who could have had a fantastic ministry, and instead of that, all they got was money and some position. Don't let that happen to you. Don't let that happen to you.

Overcoming Satan’s Schemes

So when Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the powers of spiritual darkness will not be able to overpower it," you understand now how the powers of spiritual darkness are overpowering so many churches. It's not only by adultery, it's not only by infighting and division and strife, it's by making that church preoccupied with money, and its leaders especially. And where the leaders use the anointing God has given them to get money for themselves, to gain for themselves, to buy cars and houses and airplanes and all types of things for themselves, to make their life more comfortable, to exalt themselves above other people, to get titles for themselves—Reverend, and Right Reverend, and Archbishops, and Metropolitans, and Cardinals, and Popes—where do we find all this in Scripture? The devil has overpowered so many churches, and there's hardly anybody who speaks against all these things. I don't want to belong to such a church. I don't want to belong to a church that I see Satan has overpowered. I want to get out of those churches. I want to be a part of a church where we may not be perfect, but at least we are fighting against the devil and seeking to overcome him.

The Greatest Threat: Sin

And of course, the greatest way in which the devil overpowers the church is through sin. And if he can get a church where the emphasis is not against sin, he’s succeeded. A church where the emphasis is on, you know, miracles and singing—do you know the best musicians in the world are not Christians? The best musicians in the world are worldly people. The best pianists, guitar players are not Christians; they're worldly people. Sure, the best eloquent speakers in the world are not Christians; they are politicians. Many politicians who can hold an audience gripped for two hours—these are not the marks of a powerful church: eloquent speaking and wonderful music, no, not at all, not even big buildings. The world has got much better buildings than any church has.

Weapons Against Satan

But I'll tell you what the world doesn't have: holiness, and purity, and humility. If I can tell you three things the devil doesn't have, and if you have them, you can overcome Satan. If you have money, the devil’s got more than you. You're clever; the devil is cleverer than you. You can sing; the devil can sing better than you. But if you've got humility, you'll overcome because the devil’s got zero of that. You must have weapons that the devil doesn't have. The devil’s not afraid of a rich man; the devil’s not afraid of an eloquent man; the devil’s not even afraid of a good singer or a good musician. But he's scared of someone who is genuinely humble—not someone who's acting humble before you, you know, speaking soft words and all that, but one humbling, as it says in Philippians 2:8:

Bible Verse:

Philippians 2:8
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Humility as a Weapon

He humbled himself by being obedient to the death of the cross. That is the mark of humility, that Jesus was willing to go to the cross and die in secret every day for 33 years; He died to Himself. And if the devil finds somebody like that here, I'll tell you, the devil will be scared of you. I want the devil to be scared of me. Well, think how effective your life will be if the devil’s scared of you. You'll be a blessing to people around you because the world is surrounded by people who’ve been influenced by Satan.

Pursuing Humility

So here's number one thing the devil doesn't have: humility. Pursue it, pursue it. Another thing the devil doesn't have is godliness or holiness, pure thoughts. The devil doesn't have pure thoughts, and if you—okay, you slip up and have dirty thoughts, but if you allow it and you don't take it seriously, you're getting more and more into fellowship with the devil. You're going to hate it; if you hate and are fighting dirty thoughts, you're on the right track; at least you're fighting it. But if you don't hate it and you don't detest it, brother, be careful that you don't get into fellowship with the devil with all your Christian language and New Covenant language on top of it, and in secret, you're in fellowship with the devil with your thinking.

Pursuing Godliness

The devil does not have godliness. The devil doesn't have godliness in thoughts, so it doesn't have godliness in his speech, doesn't have godliness in his actions or his attitudes or motives or anything. So godliness covers many areas: our thoughts and our words. If your words are not becoming better and better, you better be careful. This is the way we can have authority over Satan. We want to build a church the gates of Hell cannot prevail against; we want to overcome Satan. Here's the second thing you've got to pursue with all your heart.

Pursuing Contentment

And the third thing the devil—there are many things, but I just list these three—is contentment. You see, when he was created as the highest of the angels, you read that in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, he was not happy to be there. He was perfect; you're reading Ezekiel 28, he was not content even though God placed him in the highest position in heaven. The only person above him was God. He was discontent; he said, "I want to go higher." That spirit of discontentment, of wanting to go above others, to push other people down and get on top of them, that is Satan.

Bible Verse:

Isaiah 14 (Reference to Satan’s fall, context provided)
Ezekiel 28 (Reference to Satan’s perfection and fall, context provided)

The Spirit of Discontentment

And when that gets into any person, he doesn't realize that he's hand in glove with the devil. When you want to push other people down, when you want to show in a church, "I can pray better than others, I can preach better than others, I can sing better than others," and secretly in your mind you say, "Boy, wasn't that good what I did, the way I prayed just now, or that sermon I preached, or the way I'm leading the singing, or the way I'm playing the instruments," you don't realize the devil’s sitting right inside your head. Where are you going to be a part of a church that the gates of Hell don't prevail against? He's prevailing against you all the time.

Understanding Satan’s Schemes

We’ve got to understand the devil’s schemes. Paul once said, "We're not ignorant of Satan's schemes." Tell me, am I speaking the truth or not? Aren't these Satan's schemes? Discontent began in the world with Lucifer; he was the first created being to be discontent with what he had; he wanted to be above others.

Bible Verse:

2 Corinthians 2:11
So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Rejecting Human Honor

That spirit that wants to be above—you know that we read in John chapter 6, after Jesus fed the five thousand, they wanted to make Him a king. You know what He did? He came to be the king of the world, but He would not receive that crown from human beings. He says, "My Father has to give it to me." When men came to crown Him, He just ran away and said, "I don't want it." Don't seek for honor from people. Don't think about it in your mind to think that people honor you and appreciate you; you're just opening up your mind to the devil. Then you'll have problems in many other areas.

Bible Verse:

John 6 (Reference to Jesus feeding the five thousand and rejecting kingship, context provided)

Guarding Against Satan

See, if we are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes and say, "Hey, I kept the back door open; I'm keeping the front door shut against the devil; the back door is open, and he walks right in." So be careful that you don't seek for honor or this pursuit after money. These are the ways in which the devil comes, and you see plenty of that in so many churches, and that is how churches have been overrun.

Building a Church That Overcomes

Show me a church that fights against pride, which is the opposite of humility, fights against sin, which is the opposite of godliness, and fights against discontentment and grumbling and murmuring and complaining and teaches people to be content with what they have—there you'll have a church which overcomes Satan. And that's what we want our church to be. We want to build people in this church who pursue humility with a passion, who know, always feel, "I'm not humble enough." I feel like that; I don't feel I have reached the humility of Jesus yet because Jesus said:

Bible Verse:

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Pursuing Christlikeness

I honestly stand before God and say, "Lord, I am trying to learn that every day of my life." That is why, God is my witness, I say I judge myself every single day to find some un-Christlikeness that I can cleanse myself from, be a little more Christ-like, to go down and go down and go down. Pursue it. We want to build a church where people are pursuing godliness, where you are not satisfied with the level of holiness you have attained to. Can you honestly say that: "I am not satisfied with the level of holiness I have attained; there's a lot more I have to get, and I'm not just sitting back and waiting for it to drop from heaven because I know the Bible says God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Bible Verse:

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Diligent Seeking

He's not a rewarder of those who sit back in their easy chairs and say, "Wait, let God drop something on me." He'll drop nothing on you. You sit there lazily, and the devil will drop a lot of things into your lap. But the ones who find God are the ones who diligently seek Him. Jeremiah 29 verse 13:

Bible Verse:

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Persistent Prayer

Those are the things which Jesus taught in His parables: the widow going to the judge and saying, "I've got to give, deliver me from my enemy, deliver me from my enemy," waking him up at two o'clock in the morning, "Deliver me from my enemy." Read it in Luke 18. And finally, the judge says, "Okay," and the Lord says, "Look what this unrighteous judge says, and you think your heavenly Father will not do for you if you cry to Him day and night?" I must show you that verse because some of you don't believe that. That's what Jesus said. He told us to cry day and night. Turn to Luke 18. It's a story of a person, verse 3, who wants legal protection against my enemy. She's not the widow, a helpless person.

Bible Verse:

Luke 18:3-7
And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?”

Crying Out for Spiritual Inheritance

She doesn't have a husband; she doesn't even have any children to go and plead for her. She's a widow without children; otherwise, why should she go herself? An 80-year-old lady going to a judge; she has no husband, no children. It's a picture of the helplessness of the human being before, you know, in the presence, the devil is too strong for us. Goes to the only one who can help; that is the judge. And what is the request? "Give me legal"—that means give me my rights. "I'm not asking for the enemy's property; I don't want the enemy's property. Don't let the enemy take my property. This neighbor of mine is encroaching, encroaching and taking over my property. Please protect me; I want to keep my property for myself, what is legally mine." The nature of Christ is legally mine; Jesus’ blood on the cross—ask God for it. And the devil is trying to steal it from me. "Lord, give it to me." And she has to keep on asking, asking, asking, asking, and finally the judge says, "She'll wear me out," verse 5, "by her continual coming." And he's talking about how we should pray. Do you wear out God by your continually coming into asking Him for something again and again? The Lord’s reminded me of this: sometimes you ask for something, and then you give up after a little while. Is that what I taught you in Scripture: to continually go till you wear out the person? And the Lord says, "See what that unrighteous judge says," in verse 7, Luke 18:7: "Shall not God bring about justice?"—that is our legal right—for whom? For us who are His elected children, who cry to Him day and night. Do you cry to Him day and night for your inheritance?

Avoiding a Laid-Back Attitude

Laid-back attitude, saying, "But I'll go next Sunday and listen to what they say in CFC; maybe I'll get something. I'm really stirred by the message; it lasts a few days." But if you cry, go to God and cry to Him day and night, you'll get something permanent. Those are the people who have counted for God on this earth, who ask for protection against the devil and want to overcome him, who cry: "The rock on which I'll build my church, and the powers of darkness will not prevail against it."

Section 6: The Cross and the Church

The Connection Between the Church and the Cross

I want to show you one more thing, and that is, this is also the time, Matthew 16 verse 21, when Jesus began to teach His disciples for the first time that He was going to be crucified. See the connection between the first time about the church and the first time about the cross. There's a close connection between building the church and the way of the cross.

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Peter’s Resistance to the Cross

And notice what happened as soon as Jesus said, "I'm going to be killed," and He even said, "I'm going to be raised up." Peter said in verse 22, "God forbid it, Lord; that's never going to happen to you." If I were to paraphrase his words: "I'll never let that happen to you, Lord; I'll stand in front of you; I'll let them stab me and kill me; I'll never let them touch you." Wouldn't you be delighted if you have a friend like that who will say, "I'm going to defend you even if I lose my life"? How does Jesus turn around and tell him? Oh, He says, "Oh, thank you so much, Peter, for saying like that; you're such a good friend of mine"? No, He says, "Get behind me, Satan."

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:22-23
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

The Voice of Satan

Is that the way you should respond to someone who's trying to save your life? Jesus wasn't interested in His life being saved. What do I learn from that? The voice that tells me not to go the way of the cross is the voice of Satan. If you recognize that, you're a blessed person. Any voice that tells you, "Don't humble yourself; don't go the way of the cross," is the voice of the devil, and you have to say to it, "Get behind me, Satan." That's what I learned from this rebuke that the Lord came because He says, "Peter, you are, your mind is on"—what’s this?—"the reason we seek our own is because our mind is on our own interests, not God's interests."

God’s Interests Over Self

I'm convinced that there are very few believers’ minds are who’s in God's interests, who are always saying, "Hallowed be Thy name in the church. I don't want just to go and have a nice meeting with people; I want Your name to be glorified. I don't want my children just to do well in school; I want Your name to be glorified in my children, the way they grow up, the way they live." Your mind is on man's interests. You ask yourself, brothers and sisters, whether there's a little bit of that in your mind: avoiding the way of the cross and seeking to preserve yourself.

Taking Up the Cross

That's what He went on to say in verse 24: "If you want to come after me, you've got to take up your cross, deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow me." And if you don't do that, you try to save your life, verse 26—you're not talking about physical life now, or self-life—if you try to save yourself life:

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:24-26
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

Preserving Self-Life

How do you save yourself life? In a provocative situation at home between you and your wife, you want to preserve your dignity and your self-life, and you refuse to die to yourself, and the end is a fight and a quarrel, or between you and your husband. Okay, you saved yourself life; you did not allow yourself life to die at that time. You asserted yourself; you made your opinion known, and you feel a little satisfied that you told your husband what you thought of him, or you told your wife what you thought about her, and you preserved your life. I'll tell you what will happen. Jesus says you'll lose it; you will definitely lose it.

Gaining Eternal Life

But if you're willing to give up that life at that time, you'll get eternal life from God. That's what He's saying: you'll get the life of God replacing that self-life that you gave up in that moment of temptation. Why is it you have not partaken more and more of the life of God? Because there were so many opportunities where God said to you, "Give up yourself life now; I'll give you My life." You said, "No, I'm going to stand up for my rights; I'm going to fight for my right; I'm not going to die here; I'm going to say what I want to say." Okay, go ahead; the Lord won't force you. You preserved your own self-life, and see where your condition that you're in today.

Spiritual Poverty

Be honest, my brothers and sisters. Some of you have been here in CFC for so many years; have you really made all the progress you should have made in all these years? And if not, ask yourself: isn't it because in numerous situations you preserved yourself, preserved yourself life, and there you are today, poverty-stricken spiritually, without revelation, without the anointing of God? Because God wants your anointing to become greater and greater and greater and greater as the years go by. And think of the years that I've already wasted; at least wake up now.

The Futility of Gaining the World

And He says here, "What will you gain," verse 26, "if you gain the whole world?" Even if you keep preserving yourself life, ultimately you gain the whole world. I mean, nobody is pursuing after the wealth of the whole world, but even if you did, and you lose the opportunity that God gave you on earth to partake of eternal life, you have gained nothing.

The Coming Judgment

And then He says, "I will be coming back soon in glory," verse 27, "and every man in that day will get exactly according to his deeds."

Bible Verse:

Matthew 16:27
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Building the Church Through Daily Life

Have you built the church? I don't mean coming and helping here in so many ways; that's good. But the way you build a church is by your taking up the cross in your daily life. That's why I've often said the important day in many churches is Sunday; for an important day for us is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday—the way we lived during the week. That's how we build a church: the way you live at home, the way you live in your office, the way you behave on the roads, the way you conduct yourself where you don't preserve yourself life, and the opportunities God gives you. You say, "Lord, I give up my life so that I can partake of Your life." It's a much better life.

The Bridegroom and the Beggar

I'm often pictured myself like, you know, Jesus is our bridegroom; we are the bride, but we're like a poor beggar woman whom a prince wants to come and marry. That's a picture of Christ and me. So I picture myself like a beggar woman sitting by the wayside with my tin can with all the coins inside, which amount to about two rupees by now. And this prince comes by in a flashy car and stops beside me and says, "I want to marry you." This is exactly the picture of salvation, in case you haven't seen it. I see it very clearly. It's so ridiculous, humanly speaking, but that's what Jesus did: this Prince of Heaven coming to this beggar woman sitting with a tin can and saying, "I want to marry you." It's almost like a joke. He says, "Not a joke; I want to marry you, but you got to give me everything in your tin can, and I'll give you all of the riches of heaven." In other words, "I'll put my millions into the bank account; let's have a joint account, but you must put your two rupees there also." And if I say, "Well, let me think about it; let me pray over that and see whether I want to have a joint account with you," this is the stupidity of so many Christians who haven't seen what they have missed by not having a joint account with Jesus.

A Joint Account with Christ

You can't have a joint account with Jesus if you don't give everything that you have in your tin can. You can't take one or two coins and say, "Okay, I'll give you this much." The Lord says, "No, I am giving you everything; you've got to give me everything; otherwise, we don't have a joint account." It's wonderful to have a joint account with Jesus Christ. You've missed it; you can start today. Give up your self-life: "I'll give you My life." That's what He's saying. That is how the church is built.

Section 7: Encouragement to Build the Church

Personal Responsibility

So I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, go home, take Matthew chapter 6 verse 16 to 27—read it, meditate on it, ask God to give you revelation, and say, "Lord, I want to be a very useful member of building the church. I can't preach? Never mind, you can build a church. I can't sing? Never mind, you can build a church. Lord, I don't have any spiritual gift? Never mind, you can build a church." If you're willing to give your all to Christ as your bridegroom and give up yourself life in the daily temptations that come your way and say, "Lord, I'm going to take up the cross and follow You," that is how every member here can build a church.

The Reward of Faithfulness

And you'll be surprised, like Jesus said, you know, when the last day comes, verse 27: "I will give to every person according to their deeds." You think it's only the preachers and the singers and the musicians are going to get a reward? They may be lost because they didn't die to themselves in their daily life; they just stood up in front and got a lot of honor from people. And then you'll find some people whom you didn't think much of, who faithfully took that word and died to themselves in their daily life. You'll see them in that final day when Jesus comes, going forward to get their reward, and you'll get the shock of your life: "Boy, I didn't think much of that brother or that sister in CFC; how in the world is he or she going up to get the best reward?" There's no partiality with God. He does not reward people according to their gifts because gifts are what He gives them. He cannot reward me for my preaching because it's a gift He gave me. He can reward me if I'm faithful with it; that's another thing. He's going to reward you for faithfulness in the daily life.

Opportunity for All

And everybody sitting here has the opportunity for that. Who is hindering you? Tell me, from crying day and night to God: "Lord, I want an overcoming life. Lord, I want an anointing in my life that increases." Who's stopping you from doing that? Where your life can be a tremendous blessing to others. Read this week's Word for the Week of the gift called helps; read it, ask God to give you, make you one like that, a gift to the church.

Conclusion

So I just said that I shared this today so that you can know that everyone sitting here can actively build a church, unlike the Israelites in the congregation of Moses who could only observe God's actions.

Section 8: Closing Prayer

Prayer for Effectiveness

So let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we bow before You, I pray, Lord God our Father, that we will all be gripped by this wonderful truth that we can be, every one of us, effective, useful members in the body of Jesus Christ. Lord, give us that strength to cry out to You day and night till we are filled and anointed, and rivers of living water start flowing out from us, blessing others. Deliver us from our lethargy and our laziness and half-heartedness, and, Lord, give us a heart to pursue after You, to seek after You with all our hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen

Self Check

Self-Check and Self-Reflection Questions

1. Understanding the True Church

• Am I part of a true church built by Jesus, or am I merely part of a congregation or club focused on human leadership or personal comfort?
  (Reflecting on Matthew 16:18 and the distinction between a church and a congregation/club.)
• Do I view church as a place to receive help or admiration, or do I see it as a body where I actively contribute to Christ’s work?
  (Challenging the idea of church as a club where people seek personal importance.)

2. Redefining Worship

• Do I equate worship with singing and praising, or am I offering my most precious possessions—time, desires, or comforts—to God as an act of worship?
  (Based on the sermon’s definition of worship from Genesis 22 and Job 1.)
• When God takes something precious from me, do I respond with complaints, or can I bow down and say, “Lord, no complaints, you’re welcome to do it”?
  (Reflecting on true worship as surrendering without complaint, as exemplified by Abraham and Job.)
• Am I following the biblical order of worship before service, or am I serving God without a heart of sacrificial worship?
  (Drawing from Matthew 4:10: “Thou shalt worship and then thou shalt serve.”)

3. Seeking Divine Revelation

• Have I experienced a personal revelation of Jesus Christ that grips my heart, or am I relying on intellectual knowledge or external experiences of Him?
  (Reflecting on Matthew 16:15-18, Galatians 1:15-16, and Ephesians 1:16-17.)
• Do I actively seek the Holy Spirit for wisdom and revelation to know Christ inwardly, or am I content with second-hand knowledge from sermons or teachings?
  (Challenging the need for personal revelation to transform one’s life.)
• If everyone around me abandoned their faith, would my revelation of Christ keep me steadfast, or am I carried along by the crowd?
  (Based on the sermon’s call for a faith rooted in personal conviction.)

4. Overcoming Satan’s Schemes

• Am I pursuing humility, godliness, and contentment with passion, or do I allow pride, sin, or discontentment to take root in my heart?
  (Reflecting on the weapons against Satan: humility (Philippians 2:8), godliness, and contentment.)
• Do I recognize and resist Satan’s subtle temptations, such as seeking money or human honor, or am I unknowingly bowing to these influences?
  (Drawing from Matthew 4:8-9 and 1 Timothy 6:9-10 about Satan’s disguise as money or an angel of light.)
• When I face impure thoughts or actions, do I hate and fight them, or do I tolerate them, risking fellowship with the devil?
  (Challenging the need to pursue godliness in thoughts, words, and actions.)

5. Taking Up the Cross

• In daily situations (e.g., at home or work), do I preserve my self-life by asserting my rights and dignity, or do I deny myself and take up the cross?
  (Reflecting on Matthew 16:24-26 and the call to die to self in daily temptations.)
• When I face conflict or provocation, do I prioritize God’s interests (His glory) over my own, or do I seek to save my reputation and desires?
  (Based on Matthew 16:23 and the rebuke of Peter for focusing on man’s interests.)
• Am I spiritually poverty-stricken because I’ve consistently chosen to preserve my self-life instead of partaking in God’s eternal life?
  (Challenging believers to assess their lack of progress due to avoiding the cross.)

6. Persistent Prayer and Spiritual Hunger

• Do I cry out to God day and night for my spiritual inheritance (an overcoming life and anointing), or do I have a laid-back attitude toward prayer?
  (Drawing from Luke 18:3-7 and the persistent widow’s example.)
• Am I diligently seeking God with all my heart, as Jeremiah 29:13 instructs, or am I waiting passively for spiritual growth to happen?
  (Reflecting on the need for diligent seeking to find God.)
• Do I value and engage with freely available spiritual resources (e.g., sermons, Bible teachings), or do I neglect them, indicating a lack of spiritual hunger?
  (Based on the comparison to the Queen of Sheba and the neglect of CFC’s Word for the Week or Through the Bible series.)

7. Faithfulness with Earthly Resources

• Am I faithful and careful with the money God has given me, or do I waste it carelessly, potentially missing out on true spiritual riches?
  (Reflecting on Luke 16:11: “If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?”)
• Have I ever gained money through unrighteous means (e.g., lying or cheating), and if so, have I truly repented with humility, not just returned it?
  (Drawing from the example of Judas Iscariot and Gehazi’s fall to the temptation of money.)

8. Building the Church Through Daily Life

• Do I see my daily choices—at home, work, or on the road—as opportunities to build the church by dying to self, or do I think only public ministry counts?
  (Reflecting on Matthew 16:24-27 and the sermon’s emphasis on daily faithfulness.)
• Am I pursuing an overcoming life that blesses others, or am I content with spiritual mediocrity and lack of impact?
  (Challenging believers to be useful members of Christ’s body through consistent cross-bearing.)
• Do I seek human appreciation for my contributions to the church, or am I content to live before God’s face, seeking only His approval?
  (Based on the warning against seeking honor from men, as exemplified by Jesus rejecting human crowns in John 6.)

9. Preparing for Eternal Reward

• Am I living with eternity in view, knowing that God will reward me according to my deeds, not my gifts or public roles?
  (Reflecting on Matthew 16:27 and the impartial judgment based on faithfulness.)
• If I were to stand before Christ today, would my life reflect faithfulness in dying to self, or would I be found lacking because I preserved my self-life?
  (Challenging believers to evaluate their spiritual progress in light of eternal consequences.)

10. Commitment to a Joint Account with Christ

• Have I fully surrendered my “tin can” (my self-life, desires, and possessions) to Christ for a joint account, or am I holding back parts of it?
  (Reflecting on the analogy of the beggar woman and the Prince, symbolizing total surrender for salvation.)
• Am I willing to give up everything—my pride, ambitions, and comforts—to receive the riches of Christ’s life, or am I hesitating like a foolish beggar?
  (Challenging believers to embrace the exchange of their self-life for Christ’s eternal life.)

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How to Use These Questions

1. Meditate on Scripture: Reflect on each question alongside the corresponding Bible verses provided in the sermon (e.g., Matthew 16:15-27, Luke 16:11-13, Ephesians 1:16-17). Read and pray over these passages to gain deeper insight.
2. Journal Your Responses: Write honest answers to these questions in a journal, noting areas of strength and weakness. Be specific about situations where you’ve preserved self-life or neglected spiritual opportunities.
3. Pray for Revelation: Ask God for the spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:16-17) to show you where you need to grow in humility, godliness, and contentment.
4. Seek Accountability: Share your reflections with a trusted spiritual mentor or friend to help you stay committed to pursuing an overcoming life.
5. Act on Insights: Identify one or two actionable steps (e.g., persistent prayer, studying neglected resources, apologizing in a conflict) to address areas where you fall short.